One quiet notification per burst
Take ten shots and you still get a single notification that updates in place, with a row of thumbnails.
5 new photos2 receipts skipped by your rule3 to decide
Free for Android
Back up the keepers. Skip the receipts.
Right after every new photo or video, Sift asks one question: back it up? Tap Upload, Skip or Album in the notification. Approved ones move into a Sift folder that your own backup app already knows how to upload.
Free, no ads. Android 11 or newer. Works with Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox and Drive.
How it works
One tap per photo. That is the whole app.
- 1
Take a photo
Sift notices the new photo or video right away and shows one quiet notification. Shoot a burst of ten and you still get one.
- 2
Tap Upload, Skip or Album
Upload moves it into the Sift folder. Skip leaves it on your phone. Album files it into a named album inside that folder.
- 3
Your backup app does the rest
Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox or Drive backs up the Sift folder like any other. Sift itself never deletes a thing.
Features
Small, calm, and hard to get wrong.
Everything is built around the moment a photo lands, so deciding takes seconds and mistakes are easy to undo.
Evening digest
Prefer one nudge a day? Switch to a digest and decide everything in one sitting.
Swipe to decide
A card deck for the pile: one photo at a time, swipe to upload or skip.
Best of burst
Sift suggests the best frame of a burst, so you can keep one and skip the rest.
History with undo
Every decision is listed, and a skipped photo can be changed after the fact.
Rules, with a people guard
Decide by time of day, weekday or folder. Weekday receipts get skipped; the people guard stops a rule from skipping photos with people in them.
Weekdays 9:00 to 18:00Folder: ScreenshotsPeople guard on
Temporary modes
Travel mode uploads everything for a few days. Pause stops asking for a while. Both always end by themselves.
Missed while paused
Paused, battery saver or a restart? Photos Sift could not catch land in a catch-up list. Nothing is silently dropped.
Videos, with size
Clips show their length and size, so a 112 MB video does not sneak into your cloud.
Weekly safety check
Once a week, Sift looks over what you skipped and flags anything that looks important.
Compared
Why not just Google Photos backup?
You can. Sift does not replace it: it sits in front of it and chooses what reaches it.
| Backup app on its own | Sift with your backup app | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides what is backed up | The Camera folder is on or off. Everything in it goes up. | You, per photo, right after you take it. Rules can decide for you. |
| Receipts, screenshots and parking spots | They are backed up with everything else. | Skip them with one tap, or let a rule skip them. |
| Bursts | Every frame goes up. | One notification per burst, with a best-of-burst pick. |
| Changing your mind | Unwanted shots are uploaded first and cleared out later. | History lets you undo a decision. |
| Where backups end up | In your backup app's library. | The same place. Sift only chooses what gets there. |
Google Photos stays installed and keeps doing the uploading. The only change in it is a switch: backup off for the Camera folder, on for the Sift folder.
Your photos, your call
Your photos go only where you send them.
Sift has no cloud storage of its own. It shows you each new photo in a notification and moves the ones you approve into a folder on your phone. What happens next is up to the backup app you chose.
- Nothing is deletedSkipped photos stay in your Camera folder, right where they were.
- A narrow jobSift reads photos and videos in the folders it watches (Camera by default) to show them and to move the ones you approve.
- Stats you can switch offUsage stats and crash logs help us fix problems. They never include photo content, file names, paths or locations. Read the privacy policy.
Questions
Good questions, short answers.
Does Sift delete my photos?
No. Sift never deletes anything. Upload moves a photo or video into a folder named Sift; Skip leaves it exactly where it is, in your Camera folder. Unanswered photos also stay on your phone.
Does it work on Pixel and Samsung phones?
Yes. Sift works on Pixel, Samsung and other phones running Android 11 or newer. Google Photos stays installed; the only change is in its settings, where backup for the Camera folder is switched off and backup for the Sift folder is switched on.
Which backup apps work with Sift?
Any app that can back up a folder on your phone. That includes Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive. Sift decides what goes into the Sift folder; your backup app does the uploading, with its own account and storage.
What about videos?
Videos get the same one tap as photos, and the notification shows the length and file size so you can skip a big clip before it eats your storage.
What happens if I do not answer?
Each new photo is offered for a few minutes. If you do not answer, the notification goes away and the photo simply stays on your phone. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is deleted. Photos that were missed while Sift was paused or restarting show up in a catch-up list in the app.
Will it drain my battery?
Sift runs a small background service that waits for new photos instead of scanning your gallery, so it has little to do between shots. Android shows this as a permanent notification, which you can quiet in system settings. During setup Sift also checks whether your phone's battery saver would stop it.
What does Sift collect?
Your photos go only where you send them: into the Sift folder on your phone, and from there to the backup app you chose. Sift also uses Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics for usage stats and crash logs. They never include photo content, file names, folder paths or locations, and you can switch both off in Settings, under Help improve Sift. The privacy policy has the full list.
How much does Sift cost?
Sift is free, with no ads and no purchases. Your backup app may have its own storage plan.